Dr. Inna Molitoris will discuss posters the Bolsheviks used to promote their ideologies among Russian citizens in the early 20th century and how they functioned as very persuasive common instruments to reach out to recipients.

Dr. Jim Butterfield will examine Russia's search for a future amidst its many Soviet legacies (both positive and negative), ongoing resource dependency, Cold War-like tensions with Europe and North America, and what increasingly looks like a president-for-life political formula.

10 a.m. & again at 12 p.m Play: "The Malachite Goddess" 1025 Brown

This play, performed by students from Marshall Academy, was inspired by the Ural Mountains folktales collected by Bazhov during the Stalin era. Adapted and retold by Judith Rypma, it tells the story of a young stonecutter prepared to give up everything—including love—to be the best at his art. Children & families warmly invited.

12 p.m. “The Fate of Stalin’s Bible” 1028 Brown

Dr. Scott Lingenfelter will explore the story behind Stalin’s decision to sell the Codex Sinaiticus, the Russian Orthodox Church’s most valuable holding and the world’s oldest Bible, to the British Museum. Join him on an ancient and priceless treasure’s journey through a revolutionary age.

1 p.m. “The Russian Cultural NON Revolution of 1917” 1028 Brown

Dr. Christine Rydel will assess the Revolution’s impact on Russia’s cultural scene. Rather than give up, many visual artists, poets, prose writers, literary critics, and musicians continued experimental tendencies of the late 19th century, producing spectacular and even avant garde works until Stalin’s cultural crackdown in 1932.

2 p.m. KEYNOTE: “It Had to be Revolution: Russia’s Great Leap”1028 Brown

Dr. Lewis H. Siegelbaum will examine why the 1917 Revolution occurred. Was it only or mainly because of the devastation of war? Why did a small previously conspiratorial group of Marxists known as Bolsheviks defeat their myriad enemies? And what does it all mean for the U.S. & the American people?

Prof. Judith Rypma will read passages from her new historical time travel novel (Black Opal Books), in which a modern American teen unexpectedly finds herself trapped in Imperial and then Revolutionary Russia.

3:15 p.m. “Petrograd, 1917: The Confidential Print” 1028 Brown

Dr. Edward A. Cole will look at The Confidential Print, an important British document that has provided a treasure trove of historical evidence, including 1917 transmissions from Petrograd revealing the frantic efforts of Britain’s diplomatic staff to sustain their Russian ally even as it literally collapses outside the Embassy gates.